Shadows
by A Darker Dari
Summary: Link must face down one of his darkest foes: himself.


He appeared as my eyes closed, and when I opened them, he stood across the room from me—if this illusion of watery infinity could be called a room at all. For once, though, I had absolutely no interest in my surroundings. Right now I could see only the absolute hatred that burned in his eyes as he slowly approached me and I slowly approached him.

Above the branches of the area's single tree, Navi the fairy flickered between us as though confused, her light fluctuating swiftly from her normal blue, to enemy yellow, back to blue again.

Everything about him was hauntingly familiar. His clothes, cut in the style of the Kokiri but made for an adult, matched my own. I knew his face intimately; I saw it each and every time I gazed at my own reflection.

As we neared each other, I raised a hand as though to reach out to him, and simultaneously, he did the same, as though each of us had the need to confirm that what we saw was not simply a mirror. Our fingers met, real flesh against real flesh. Pale skin against shadows.

As though a spell had been broken, we both moved. I grabbed his wrist at exactly the same moment that he grabbed mine. Each of us reached with our free hands for the Master sword sheathed at our backs.

Our gazes locked, each aflame with anger and determination. Whatever this trick of Ganondorf's was, I was not going to let it defeat me.

We released one another and swung, our identical blades meeting with a ringing clash before us. He matched me blow for blow. He didn't just look like me. He moved like I did. He fought like I did.

When I whirled around with a bomb pulled out of my sack, there he was with a bomb in his own hand. When I went for a low sweep, his actions mirrored mine almost perfectly, and our swords passed each other millimeters away as we both leaped up to dodge them. I switched to a defensive position, hoping to figure out what he planned to do next; and of course, he did exactly the same.

"Conquer yourself!" Navi encouraged. She stayed far away from the battle itself, seeming to realize that if she tried to help, she'd only further give my moves away to the enemy.

If I was going to win this battle, I quickly realized, it would have to be with techniques and strategies I didn't use often. I would have to try to be erratic, to lower my predictability.

I let out a yell as I rushed him, blade held parallel to the ground in both fists. He dodged easily, jumping out of the way and immediately spinning, his blade charging with energy. I ducked underneath as he released the wave of blue, then swung at him again.

Our eyes met again a spilt second before our blades did. The burning red seemed to pierce me to the core, harsher than any steel could be. Such intense hatred there, strangely matching the hatred that coursed through me. I couldn't help but wonder what thoughts were going through his head, and just how real this copy of me really was.

And then we were exchanging blows again. Overhead, side blow, side blow, sweep, each perfectly dodged or perfectly countered. We knew each other too well.

In a last ditch effort, I threw myself up over the top of one of his horizontal swings and somehow managed to smash my feet down onto his blade. Surprise registered across his face as I stood over him. I raised my sword, knowing I could finish this from here, but Navi's sudden cry of alarm made me pause. "Oh no! Link!" she shouted worriedly. "Shake him off!"

Was she... helping _him_?

With a scream of anger, I swung down on him, but my hesitation had been enough to allow him to recover. He yanked his blade back and I had to backflip to stay on my feet. Strangely, he wasn't looking at me when I came upright again. Almost blindly, like he was trying to fight out of the corners of his eyes, he spun, releasing another wave of energy.

This time, the blow connected, and the coursing blue light knocked me down into the water. Gasping in pain, I tried to roll back up to a standing position, gripping my chest where I'd been cut.

It was too late. He was standing over me now, and before I could react, he drove his sword down at me in a final blow.

I fell through the water, as though in slow motion. The illusions began to fade away, returning this place to a normal room. I looked up into his eyes, fierce blue now, as he stood above me, sheathing his sword, and the illusion fell away from him as well.

I raised my hand up towards him, and after a moment of surprised hesitation, he reached down to me. Once again, our fingers touched. His pale skin... against my shadows. I was the copy. I was the abomination.

I was Shadow Link.


End file.
